Many smokers undergo changes to their sensory modalities, with a diminished ability to taste certain foods of flavors perhaps chief among these. Many smokers, however, only become aware of the effect of cigarette smoking on their ability to taste after they have quit the habit, at which time they perceive a markedly increased sense of taste that in fact represents merely a return to baseline taste-bud sensitivity.
Significance
The sense of taste depends primarily on chemical sensors in the taste buds of the tongue, which are equipped to distinguish among four basic types of flavor: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. In addition, taste relies heavily on olfaction, or the sense of smell, which is why you may have noticed a decreased ability to taste foods when you have a cold. Smoking affects chemoreceptors both on the tongue and in the nasal passages, making for a comprehensive assault on the ability to taste.
Features
Cigarettes and cigars and contain chemicals that blunt the ability of the taste buds to register each of the four types of flavors, but do not destroy it altogether. Since a significant amount of smoke is exhaled through the nose, these same chemicals affect the olfactory nerve endings in a similar manner. The onset of these changes is sufficiently gradual to leave smokers unaware of them most of the time.
Effects
A study published in August 2009 in the journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders reported the effects of smoking on the sensitivity of the tongue to a mild electrical current that produces a distinctive metallic taste. Out of 62 participants in the study, 28 were smokers, and this group scored significantly worse than did the 34 non-smokers. The researchers noted anatomical differences in the blood-flow supply to smokers' taste buds as well as taste buds' shape.
Considerations
While a decrease in the ability to taste is the most obvious effect of cigarette smoking on the tongue, it is not the only effect. Heavy smoking can cause tongue irritation or pain, and can also result in the whitening of the tongue with or without pain. It may in some cases be responsible for "hairy tongue," which, though harmless, can be considered disfiguring.
Prevention/Solution
Cessation of smoking leads to a very rapid reversal of the blunting effect smoking has on taste, with quitters noticing an increased ability to taste foods within a matter of days. Since nicotine itself, in any form is believed to directly affect the taste buds, those who use nicotine gum or switch to smokeless tobacco as a means of quitting smoking may not enjoy this gustatory renaissance.
